You can tell it has been awhile since a post when you log on and the entire interface has changed... took me a few seconds to even find a window to type in.
Not being department chair is a beautiful thing. It is as though I have been wrapped in wads and wads of cotton wool through which I can still vaguely hear and see annoying things, but not well enough for them to penetrate the cocoon.
That's not to say we don't have our own craziness at the Center. Today our poor office assistant got on the wrong side of a student who then proceeded to whip out her phone and start videoing their interaction. She even stalked her to the bathroom.
Then the Arabic TA who missed orientation and showed up late for classes starting quit today. Hers was a convoluted tale of "she was having a miscarriage so she couldn't come to orientation; then she actually wasn't pregnant so, whew, but then she was and "took some medicine" that caused her to have a miscarriage, so she has to quit the program...or so was the story told by her husband to our administrative assistant today. No one could quite follow and he kept interjecting that he was 'really fed up' with his wife. We agreed it was a trying situation.
The Center is up and running but we don't actually have any space. The remodeling project drags on, well, it has yet to officially start. But yesterday we picked furniture finishes and chair fabric and carpeting so it seems a little more likely to happen during this calendar year.
